Hagar

[quote]Springer - as I said in my earlier post, C&E have placed their own interpretation on the free and unfettered movement of duty paid goods for personal consumption. Some might consider this to be in...[/quote] In can also work the other way - even if below the guideline allowance C&E may decide to impound the goods if they suspect you are not importing for your own use - e.g they see you crossing very frequently and have some suspicion that you may be illegally trdaing. I believe the example of the spouse and vehicle being impounded was what actually caused the EC commission to come down on UK Customs & Excise. The outcome was two fold - 1) the guideline/allowances were raised substantially e.g cigarettes went up from 800 to 3200 2) the Commission said that any action taken by UK C&E should be proportionate to the alleged crime. If I remember correctly the couple concerned were not even in their own car, were importing what would now be acceptable amounts of booze and cigarettes., but had the car impounded along with all sorts of other goods. The commission considered that action quite outrageous - and rightly so in my opinion!. Hagar   

Maybe there is a connection with the wine - found this on www.fonduecity.com Meat fondues, or Fondue Bourguignonne, originated centuries ago in Burgundy's famous vineyards. Here, when the grapes were ripe, harvesting was a priority, without time for a midday meal. A lazy monk, Johann du Putzxe, had the idea of heating oil to dunk-cook pieces of the meat taken from the Abbot's private supplies, so that he could eat on the run. The Swiss developed the idea to its present form and credited the Burgundian grape pickers by calling it Fondue Bourguignonne.  Health Warning - Don't believe everything you read on the 'net

[quote]Its not just over excess that customs are doing people on, its also the dangerous overloading of vehicles, especially family cars which have the back end almost dragging along the road. Penalties for ...[/quote] Have seen this kind of thing as well - it's one of the reasons that we have taken to bringing back a significant proportion of "bag in the box" wines. Stow them in the back seat rather than the boot. There are some really good value VdP out there - many can be sourced directly from the producers. Our favourite is Coteaux de Peyriac from Villerambert Moureau - it's just over 1 euro a litre in 5 litre boxes and for everyday drinking is as good as a Cote de Rhone Villages from Tesco's at 4.99 GBP a bottle. Hagar  

[quote]Hi, I've just checked the customs & excise website for what they consider to be the recommended allowance. As I've said above, the allowances are: 90 litres of wine ...[/quote] My understanding is that the 90 Litres is only a guideline. (That's 120 bottles). If you can demonstrate to the customs a reason for bringing more - e.g family wedding/anniversary/birthday then I believe they are obliged to let you through. n.b - If there are two of you travelling then the limit/guideline is 240 bottles - that's normally enough for most people

I believe the correct spelling is Fondue Bourguignonne - If you enter that into google you will get thousands of recipes etc. The Bourguignonne part (god that's difficult to type) I believe refers simply to the region which is coincidentally famous for it's wine There a number of different variations on the dish - some say cook in Bouillon/stock , others in Oil , Oil & Butter. But the essentail main ingredient is good (and it must be good) Fillet Steak. Ideally it should be accompanied by various sauces with a mayonnaise base. Again (IMO) these should be freshly made. Since good fillet steak costs 40+ euros a kilo 15.50 per person sounds quite reasonable - assuming that you get more than one or two pieces each. I would give it a try Hagar